CAPRICCIOSA NOW IN MANILA!!!

(Shown here with my mom at Capricciosa, Makuhari, Japan branch)

I was browsing the net yesterday searching for new Italian restaurants to try... After a brief search, I was surprised when I saw this headline: CAPRICCIOSA NOW IN MANILA... Capricciosa happened to be my family's ultimate favorite Italian restaurant when we were based in Tokyo for a time. It is a chain of Italian restaurants all over Japan. Any branch of Capricciosa always invites a long queue of Japanese patrons whether during lunch or dinner. They served a superb Seafood Spaghetti, Lasagna and Calzone. Those were the only dishes we ate there. Not because those were the only decent items on the menu, but a visit to Capricciosa would not be complete for us unless we eat all three. Because of this, we never got to try the other dishes.
When we eat at Capricciosa, which was about a 20 minute walk from our apartment, we are usually too lazy to prepare dinner and we just crave for good food. Happily, Capricciosa never disappoints. So you can imagine, we have our standards set really high.

My sister and I zoomed to Greenbelt 3 after office to have our fix. Upon entering the doors of Capricciosa, I felt a familiar air, like I was brought back to Japan. It helped that there was a long table filled with Japanese men, loudly bantering in Nihongo. We looked at the menu and we sighed in relief to find out it was the exact same menu, only that, we didn't need to ask for an English menu "Eigo no menu, onegaishimasu"

We ordered the Regular Sized Seafood Spaghetti (P310) which served 1-2 persons. It was spaghetti served with tuna, calamari, mussels, shrimp in tomato and garlic Sauce. It was just like the Japanese recipe. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente. Then we had the much-celebrated calzone (P490), which is shown just below my chin in the picture. The Manila version however was smaller, less puffed. It still tasted good, although a little different than its Japanese counterpart. It is served with a siding of marinara sauce. No complaints, we still enjoyed it.

Although the prices were a bit on the expensive side, I think it was worth it, than travelling all the way to Japan, just to give in to our longing for Capricciosa. Welcome to the Philippines, Capricciosa! Ganbatte!

Capricciosa is located at the 3rd Floor, Greenbelt 3, Makati City (beside Coldrock).